


Atlantis In Space

by respoftw



Series: Tumblr Prompts - McShep edition [14]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crack, M/M, Multiple Realities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 17:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7692796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They really should be old hat at this by now.  Between SGC and Atlantis, there had been at least a dozen instances of someone ending up in an alternate universe.  It was so common that it had actually been written into the official induction handbook.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Atlantis In Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asamandra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asamandra/gifts).



> This isn't quite what @asamandra prompted but I hope you agree it's in the same spirit!!

They really should be old hat at this by now.  Between SGC and Atlantis, there had been at least a dozen instances of someone ending up in an alternate universe.  It was so common that it had actually been written into the official induction handbook.  
  
John's not sure what was so different about this instance but there's just something about M.R. McKay - beloved Canadian actor and star of long-running sci-fi show,   _Atlantis in Space_ , that makes him really uncomfortable.  
  
And it's not just the that he apparently plays the part of Lt. Colonel Dave Hewlett while John's own alternate counterpart co-stars as cranky but loveable physicist, Dr. Harold Joseph Flanigan.  Well, not _only_ that.  No, the thing that's really creeping John out about this whole deal is that M.R. McKay is a man that is used to getting what he wants and it would seem that what he wants right now is to compare just how similar John and his other self really are.  
  
"So, you and the other me?"  John asked.    
  
M.R shrugged.  "It's happened.  You know how it is, two people working so closely together.  Long hours, lots of time to fill.  You're saying that you and this...ugh, Rodney, didn't ever....?"  
  
"No.  Never."  
  
"Huh.  You know, back in my universe, there's a huge part of the AiS fandom that wish Hewlett and Flanigan were together. I mean, it's fiction over there, so it's probably different but there's only so many times you can see Hewlett risk everything he has for Flanigan or, God, you know this one time the writers actually wrote an episode where Hewlett talked a man, this heartbroken, grief ridden man, into killing himself just to save Flanigan from giving up his own life. Even I had a hard time explaining that one to the fans without mentioning the l word."  M.R grinned at him.  "But, like I said, that's fiction."  
  
John avoided him as much as possible after that.  
  
It was impossible, however, to avoid the stories.   _Atlantis In Space_ \- and don't get him started on what a horrible name for a TV show that was - seemed to have been written to the exact specifications of their real lives.  Like it was somehow entertaining to spend every day living in fear that it would be your last.  Like their lives could be boiled down to forty-one minute adventures.  
  
It made John indescribably mad.  Almost as mad as knowing that Rodney, _his_ Rodney, not this - ok, yes, much fitter but also much stupider - M.R McKay was stuck there.  
  
God, John hoped he was stuck there.  The alternative doesn't bear thinking about it, no matter how many times Radek tried to explain that there was no guarantee that their Rodney was still alive.  The way M.R would nod his head sagely and reference an episode of the TV show and mangle Dr. Flanigan's science babble was not helping John's anger.  
  
John also didn't dwell too long on the way that he wanted to correct the ' _their_ ' in Zelenka's words to ' _my_ '.  There were a lot of things John wasn't thinking of these days.  
  
Those things got a lot less easy to push aside on the morning that Zelenka started babbling excitedly in Czech and, thirty minutes later, their Rodney, _his_ Rodney; softer and less polished looking but infinitely better; was standing in the spot that MR McKay had just vacated.  
  
"Oh, thank God,"  Rodney had muttered before passing out.  
  


* * *

  
Carson had discharged Rodney from the infirmary barely an hour later, blaming the strain of inter dimensional travel for his  fainting manly passing out.     
  
Rodney's first stop afterwards had been the cafeteria and John hadn't realised how much he'd missed watching Rodney eat.     
  
"Didn't they have food there?"  he teased as Rodney moaned around a mouthful of not-beef stew.   
  
"Salads,"  Rodney scoffed, "and crudités.  So, no.  They didn't have food there."   
  
When Rodney was finished his meal (and seconds, and thirds) John still wasn't ready to leave his side and started walking with Rodney towards his quarters.  Rodney looked at him a little strangely but didn't say anything.  John wondered if maybe he had been missed too.   
  
They arrived at Rodney's door far too quickly.  He wasn't ready to let Rodney out of his sight so when Rodney held the door open for him and gestured for him to come in, John didn't hesitate.   
  
"So, how was - "   
  
"We’re both idiots.”  

Rodney’s statement cut across John’s awkward attempt at small talk.

“What are you talki- “

“I’m talking about  _ this _ , Colonel.” Rodney stepped closer, crowding John against the wall until his shoulders knocked against the frame of Rodney’s diplomas.  “I’m talking about  _ us. _ ”  

John had just enough time to draw in a breath before Rodney was kissing him, before Rodney was touching him, before Rodney was taking him apart and putting him back together in such a way that he hadn’t even realised until that moment just how untogether, how unfinished he had been.

Later, in the quiet of the darkness while John lazily rubbed circles into the soft give of Rodney’s belly, Rodney told his side of the whole thing.  

Of how ridiculous that other world was, of how convincing a science geek the other John Sheppard made, of how  _ wrong _ the other John Sheppard was.  Of how a world where legions of fans had managed to reach the conclusion that the military leader and the Head of Science and Research belonged together before he had.

All in all, he mused, Atlantis in Space wasn’t that bad a show.


End file.
